ENERGY: Second record year for solar installs in 2011

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For a second consecutive year, customers of San Diego Gas &
Electric Co. and Southern California Edison set records for the
number and capacity of solar installations, data from the state-run
California Solar Initiative indicated Monday.

Falling prices driven by a glut of solar panels and the rise of
new kinds of solar financing helped customers go solar in the
region. San Diego had more solar installs and more solar capacity
in 2011 than any city in California, a report from
Environment California
Research & Policy Center
, a Los Angeles nonprofit, said
Tuesday.

"California's solar market is thriving," the center said in a
report. "Ten years ago, solar panels atop roofs were a rarity.
Today, solar is taking hold in cities across the state, from
coastal metropolises to agricultural and industrial hubs in the
Central Valley."

The cost of solar installations fell in 2011. The median price
in 2011 in California hit $7.71 per watt over the summer, down 5.1
percent from the lowest median price in 2010 in inflation adjusted
terms,
the Solar Initiative said
. Also,
more people than ever used solar leases
to install solar on
their houses, more than doubling statewide to 8,153.

With costs dropping, more people installed solar than ever
before.

SDG&E's territory, which includes all of San Diego County
and the southern part of Orange County, saw 2,689 solar
installations in 2011 across commercial, government and residential
customers. That's up 1.4 percent from 2010. The sum total of
capacity rose 3.7 percent to 13.2 megawatts, bringing the SDG&E
total to 37.9 megawatts. That's more than some of the utility's
planned solar plants slated for East San Diego County.

Edison's territory encompasses Southwest Riverside County and a
hefty chunk of other parts of Southern California, excluding
Imperial County and Los Angeles. In 2011, Edison customers ramped
up their solar installations by 36.2 percent to 7,315. Capacity
grew by 38.5 percent to 35.8 megawatts. The total nonutility solar
capacity in Edison territory reached 95.5 megawatts.

Locally, though San Diego had the most capacity of any city in
the state, on a per-capita basis it ranks 342 of the 742 cities
measured. Romoland ranked sixth in solar installations per capita
and Rancho Santa Fe ranked 21st in capacity per capita, the highest
ranked communities in Southwest Riverside and North San Diego
counties.